Cracked 40,000 on “Tenth Muse”

Well, I’ve never been to Venice, but I sure feel like I have, after all this “total immersion” research. Using Google Street View to walk the lanes I’ve never seen, or hitch a ride on a vaporetto, making sure I get the right start time for the annual Gondola Race, seeing what the view is like from the romantic, one-table crow’s nest atop the Hotel Giorgione… It’s as close to making a place “feel real” as I can get, having never been there.

Greece will be easier, because Dane and Jackson’s quest is about to take them to an island that, well, I’ve basically made up, using elements from real islands (so yeah, research there too, but not to the granular level I had to do for Venice). So I can put anything on it anywhere I want, and nobody can give me a one star review for putting the church on the wrong corner or setting some ancient ruins where they don’t “belong.”

I HOPE I can finish this one in March, especially because February has been, probably always is, a terrible sales month, and I need a new title out there to boost my profile. Or, I could spend all my time promoting my existing stuff on Facebook etc., but then I’d have no time to write! Catch-22!